the purpose of upbt.org

The main purpose of this project is to provide
Upper Peninsula-specific information and ideas about
on-road bicycle touring, and to promote &
popularize bicycle touring and slow travel in
general

A key to that is to provide a means of
discussion, questions and answers, presentation of
ideas, and reported experiences of UP bicycle touring
among interested people,

Another purpose is to give information on the
geography and natural and cultural heritage of the
UP.

I hope to show that you can have a good time as a
tourist without bringing tons of vehicles and other
infrastructure with you.

As an example of 'creeping gigantism' in traveling,
compare the average automobile traveler of mid-20th
century, the 1970s, and the ridiculous setups of current
motor travelers - how did we get from a canvas tent in
the trunk of a car to a 40 foot motorhome, towing an SUV,
with a canoe on top and bicycles strapped on the
back?? Am I the only person who thinks this is
obscene? It's one thing if you're willie nelson and you
need a portable home and studio as part of your
livelihood, but people, leave it behind and interact with
the place you are going to! You don't need computers,
plumbing, electricity, multiple huge vehicles, or a
concrete slab to enjoy the UP landscape - in fact those
things most definitely hinder your awareness and
connection to it! If you need a motel, there are plenty,
you don't need to tow one all over the place!

I think that it is a good thing to encourage careful,
polite, civilized, intelligent, and healthy tourists to
the UP - people who come to understand and 'feel' the
land and culture at a higher level than faster
travelers.

People who commit to bicycle tour in the UP presumably
already know at least a little of the place, and have
decided that it's worth their time and effort to get to
know it better. You can't dash up from the casino or
downstate golf resort just to have a fast look at a 'the
falls' for a few minutes on a bicycle tour - you have to
actually get yourself there, and in the process you see
how one place changes to another, and maybe why!

So, the site will hopefully increase awareness and
consideration of travel and tourism in the UP (and
elsewhere!) as more than just the standard
automobile-directed logistics (road conditions, '20
minutes to X' (which assumes 60mph travel!), parking lot
information instead of cultural information, etc.) and
the passive 'looking as if on tv' type of travel
increasingly presented in much of the tourist
literature.

I hope that this website will develop and increase
the awareness of bicycle touring (as opposed to the
current perception of most all bicycling as off-road
trail riding) among tourism and regional development
organizations, so that it will be promoted alongside
faster travel modes.

Benefits to the UP: (take some from the site purpose
section) (Do bicycle tourists spend more in local economy
than car tourists??) Need to add something here!